We had a great weekend! We are now all fully vaccinated, and so are Ben’s grandparents, so that warranted a family visit this weekend. It was the first time we had seen each other since 2019, and it was a great time of reconnecting. Picture people running across a field in slow motion, to scoop one another up in a long embrace, and that was our reunion. I’m pretty sure it just sounded like multi-generational Mennonites emitting half-choked sobs of delight mixed with “Oh, how we’ve been wronged.” We are not trained for emotional displays, so you may have to use your imagination.
Saturday and Sunday we just caught up with Grandma and Grandpa. We drove up to Mansfield to show them Sophia’s digs. We talked and reminisced and settled in. If you have also been away from aging parents for more than a year, you know that it was a little bit like walking on the moon. Walking? Yes, we know this. We have always known it, but where are we now, and how did we get here? Some things, over the last year, have become sharper. Others have smoothed. I struggle with both, the jagged and the fuzzy, but here we are, and I am grateful that we are all, in my tribe, here to experience it.
OK, you had a mini family reunion, you say, but what did you cook??? We have been making Asian lettuce wraps for a few years, but we were newly inspired to make them when the ‘rents were here. My parents are exceedingly disciplined in their diet, and largely vegan, but when in Rome, you throw in a little ground beef. Also, our relatively new neighbor, Margie, brought them for us a couple months ago when she (perhaps mistakenly) thought that Ben had shoveled her walk. I mean, maybe he did? I am sure there is an anonymous neighbor out there, way more deserving of her lettuce wraps, but there is nobody more appreciative than we are. Anyway, the wraps she brought were so good that we wanted to give it another go ourselves. We served them with peanut noodles, and everyone appeared to be satisfied.
Asian Lettuce Wraps
1 lb. carrots, grated
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon oil
1-2 tablespoons garlic, minced
1-2 tablespoons ginger, minced
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup hoison sauce
1-2 heads Butterhead or Boston Bibb lettuce
Cilantro, chopped
Jalapeños, diced
Cucumbers, diced
Radishes, thinly sliced
Scallions, thinly sliced
- Combine carrots, sugar, vinegar. Let it sit to marinate while you do everything else.
- In oil, over medium heat, cook garlic and ginger for a minute, then add ground beef. Cook until browned. Add hoison sauce, and cook until heated through.
- Wash and dry lettuce “wraps”.
- Each person assembles lettuce wraps to his or her liking (lettuce, meat, veggies, herbs). Bundle it all up, and stuff it in your mouth.
Peanut Noodles
12 ounces dried udon noodles
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon white miso
4 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons finely grated or chopped ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
A whisper of cayenne pepper (seriously, don’t overdo it)
3 scallions, thinly sliced on diagonal
- Cook udon noodles according to package directions, reserving1/4 cup cooking water, and rinse in cold water.
- Prepare sauce using all other ingredients, including reserved water, and combine with noodles. Like revenge, this is a dish best served cold.
The title of this post makes a lot more sense when you know that Ben calls hoison sauce poison sauce and soy sauce = joy sauce. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Pick your hoison.